Having good friends is a good thing. Come to think of it, is there such a thing as a bad friend? A bad friend would no longer be a friend, right? Friends of ours have a large pine tree in their backyard which rains down pine cones. Left alone, the pine cones would cover the ground and pile up to their roof, eventually smothering their house, eventually.

They asked us if we would like some of their pine cones, and recently they dropped off bags of pine cones. I used them to line the pathway into the vegetable garden.

The pine cones are amazing. Hold one in your hand and their beauty and design blows you away. All this effort just to hold seeds. And the coloring, why go to the trouble of painting the insides of the scales black? What is that all about? In the bright sun, the black has a purple hue to it.

Thanks to the kindness of friends, I may have the only pine cone lined poppy bed in the world.